The Relationship between Elementary Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students’ Writing Performance and Writing Motivation

Kimberly A Wolbers,Kelsey Holton,Joan Weir,Hannah M Dostal,Alaa Alsabei

doi:10.35248/2375-4427.19.7.193

Abstract

This study is in response to the lack of research that exists related to the role of motivation in the writing development and achievement of deaf and hard of hearing (d/hh) students. We investigated whether demographic and language variables were associated with writing motivation among 76 third through fifth grade d/hh elementary students, and whether motivation for personal narrative, information report and persuasive writing was related to writing performance in the same genres. Demographic variables such as gender, age, and hearing level, and the language variable of American Sign Language receptive skills, did not show an association with writing motivation measured by the Situated Writing Activity and Motivation Scale. Knowledge of English, however, showed a weak to moderate positive correlation with motivation. In a simple linear regression model, English was a statistically significant predictor of motivation across all genres. There was also a statistically significant relationship between motivation for writing personal narratives and one’s performance in the genre, yet an association was not found between motivation for information report and persuasive writing and performance in the same genres.

Highlights

Children project an innate curiosity and playfulness as they learn about the world around them [1]
We further examined the data by gender and age and found that as girls become older, there is a significant positive correlation with information report writing motivation, r(29)=0.411, p=0.027, and persuasive writing motivation, r(29)=0.372, p=0.047, that does not occur for boys or recount writing
Our second set of analyses examined whether there was a significant relationship between writing motivation and language variables such as written English competence and American Sign Language (ASL) receptive skills

Summary

Introduction

Children project an innate curiosity and playfulness as they learn about the world around them [1]. This self-driven propensity toward curiosity and exploration is the kind of motivation that teachers wish to preserve and promote during school-age years. When examining motivation in relation to learning, it is necessary to consider the learning context and the learner, as motivation has been known to be impacted by a multitude of variables such as school subject, age, or sex. The purpose of this study is to examine demographic variables of deaf and hard of hearing (d/hh) students that may impact writing motivation and investigate whether a relationship exists between student writing achievement and motivation to write within the same genre

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion